


Bright Sides and Clean Sweeps

by shopfront



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Multi, Post-Hogwarts, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29271330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/pseuds/shopfront
Summary: After the war, Harry Potter manages to cause a minor scandal every time he turns around. In his opinion though, the best one is the first time he does it deliberately.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley
Comments: 11
Kudos: 86
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Bright Sides and Clean Sweeps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [webofdreams89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/webofdreams89/gifts).



“I knew I should have been made his partner,” Ron was moaning for the hundredth time as Hermione tumbled out of the fireplace. “This never would have happened if we’d been working together. I don’t know what Robards was thinking!”

Hermione gave him a stern frown as she brushed stray floo powder and ash off her robes. “Really, Ron? From everything we’ve heard so far, there was no stopping him from resigning.”

“At least it wouldn’t have come as such a surprise though,” Ron replied. His cheeks turned pink as he gamely continued to wave the crumpled up paper in his hand at her, staying at her heels as she left the living room.

‘ _Emergency Edition!’_ the Daily Prophet continued to scream on loop in a tiny wail, its magical voice now, finally, barely audible after all the scrunching. The headline - _Boy Who Lived Quits Auror Training. Ministry finally asks: can a civilian Harry Potter be trusted?’ -_ wasn’t even legible anymore, the anti-smearing charms on the ink long failed.

Hermione just snorted as she waved her wand to check if there were any other people on the grounds. They’d already tried Grimmauld Place with no luck - and the Burrow, Luna and Neville’s new flat which Skeeter hadn’t managed to locate yet, and even Hermione’s secondary office space that she rented from the London Wizarding Library. Here though, her spell returned to her with the pleasant shiver that indicated it'd located somebody she knew.

“I’m not so sure that it _is_ a surprise, in hindsight. He’s here somewhere, though I don't think he's near enough to be inside,” she said as she pocketed her wand and raised her voice just in case while heading for the door. “Harry? Harry, where are you?”

“He can’t have gone that far,” Ron grumbled as he followed her squinting out into the sunlight.

Luckily it wasn’t raining, not like it had been in London. Rolling her sleeves up to enjoy the unexpected warmth of the afternoon sun, Hermione shooed Ron to the right before she started off around the left side of the cabin. She called Harry’s name a few times as she went and heard Ron doing the same, but it didn’t take them long to meet around the back with puzzled expressions.

The cabin wasn’t all that big, just a small thing on a big plot of land in the middle of nowhere with its lone bed crammed into an alcove instead of a proper bedroom. It was also as tiny and cramped as the building and not even very springy anymore, but it was the first bed they'd shared together and that alone was enough to make Hermione fond of the cabin. It had quickly become somewhere for the three of them to get away when they were sick of the Daily Prophet’s attention, or of work, or even just the many and sundry unsolicited owls that were forever bouncing off Harry’s wards.

Still, half the appeal of the property had been the cabin itself. None of them wanted to go camping again just to get a bit of privacy, and they didn't usually venture all that far beyond its walls.

“Maybe he’s down by the creek,” Ron said with a determined nod after they’d shared a long, strained silence. Looping his arm through hers, he led Hermione away and into the trees.

He sounded confident, but Hermione could see the little furrow between his eyebrows and the way he was chewing on his lower lip and leaned a little more heavily against his shoulder. Ron had been just as rattled by the Ministry announcement as she was. It wasn’t like Harry to just run off - not without a word and not away from them, anyway. Not lately. Yet when they rounded the bend of the creek that ran a little ways behind the cabin, they quickly spotted a familiar figure lounging under a tree.

“Oh, Harry,” Hermione scolded as they hurried over. He was just lying on the ground with a broom discarded beside him and his head cushioned on his hands, arms crossed behind his head. He looked-

Well, he looked surprisingly calm. It had been some time since she’d seen him look so… peaceful, she realised, after trying for a moment to put her finger on the right word. Even when they visited the cabin, Harry never seemed to entirely relax.

“ _Mate_ ,” Ron said, exasperation and relief bleeding through in his voice in equal measure. “Do you have any idea what sort of ruckus you left behind?”

Harry opened his eyes slowly, a lazy grin on his face. “I can probably guess,” he said, lips quirking like he was trying not to laugh. He shifted a little to get one hand free to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at them, and that was when Hermione also noticed the mud on his elbow… and the back of his arm, and-

“Oh honestly, Harry. You couldn’t have at least conjured a blanket first?” Hermione asked with a huff, doing exactly that and waving her wand to try and nudge it underneath Harry’s body. She waited, a cleaning charm on the tip of her tongue, until he’d stopped laughing long enough to roll to the side and let it settle into place beneath him, before she joined him

The charm was still ruffling through the tips of his hair when Hermione dropped to the ground and folded her legs beneath her, following the charm with her hands as she tugged him into his usual spot in her lap. He just beamed up at her as she carded her fingers through his fringe; it made her heart catch in her throat to see it. No shadows were lurking in his eyes, nor signs of stress in the clench of his jaw.

Ron joined them with a clumsy thump, jostling them both in his own bid to get close. Hermione caught Ron’s eye as he slipped his hand under Harry’s shirt and began to rub his thumb soothingly across Harry’s hip. His eyes were starting to crinkle at the corners like they usually did when he was happy and his lower lip might still have looked red and raw but it wasn’t caught between his teeth anymore, not like it had been in the cabin.

“Not that it’s not funny watching everyone run around in a panic,” he said, exchanging another quick knowing look with Hermione before turning back to Harry.

“What I think Ron’s trying to say,” Hermione said, looking back down as well. “Is that we would've appreciated a heads up before you dived into the Floo.”

That finally dimmed Harry’s smile, but only a little as they each reached for one of his hands and squeezed them. Hermione let her other hand continue over to stroke Harry’s temple and he sighed, closing his eyes briefly and turning his face into her palm.

“Sorry. I just couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t planned or anything, I just-,” he said haltingly, forehead wrinkling until Hermione leant down and pressed a kiss to his lips to stop him speaking. It was sideways and awkward but also gentle and understanding; or at least, she hoped it was. Ron’s hand steadied her as she straightened back up, his fingers warm and strong against the nape of her neck, and Harry was smiling again so widely that she couldn’t help grinning back at him. He just looked so free.

“We know, Harry. You don’t have to explain it to us,” she said as she shifted a little so she could lean back against Ron. Giving Harry’s hair one last little tug, she laughed. “Just tell us where to find you next time you send everyone into a spin. We must have looked across half of Wizarding Britain before we thought to try here. I was starting to worry Skeeter would find you before we did.”

Harry’s expression went blank for a moment. “It's that bad, is it?” he asked just as Ron threw his balled up Prophet at Harry’s head. He was already laughing at Harry, so loud and bright that Hermione nearly missed Harry’s next words. Looking disgruntled and blushing a little as he tried to flatten the front page out with his forearms so he didn’t have to let go of their hands, Harry wrinkled his nose, “it’s just a job and I only quit it a few hours ago. I thought they’d at least wait for the morning edition. Is Kingsley mad?”

“Don’t worry about Kingsley, Harry. I’ll tell ‘em all where to shove it if anyone finds us here,” Ron said as he sprawled himself across Harry’s thighs and tugging Hermione down with him. Harry was too busy staring at the headline as it attempted to announce its important, emergency news once last time, but only managed to produce a faint whining sound.

Plucking the paper from Harry’s lap with her free hand and tossing it over her shoulder, Hermione sniffed. “I informed my supervisor that I was taking a few weeks holiday and made Ron do the same before we left. Hopefully they’ll all have calmed down a little before we go back. You should have a think about if there's anywhere you want to go, Harry. We could celebrate.”

Harry’s incredulous look quickly melted into something gently smug as he tugged both of their joined hands up to kiss the back of their fingers. Then he settled back down on the blanket with a sigh and closed his eyes.

“That sounds nice,” he said, voice already sounding sleepy again like he intended to do nothing more than nap for the entire few weeks. Shaking her head in exasperated amusement, Hermione - with her boys curled around her and the sun on her face - decided to worry about the details of their holiday later and join him.


End file.
